NAME HERE38
can gurgle into the cylinder head of my
Perkins engine. (Heeling sharply to port
isn’t a problem for Ganesh.)
This wasn’t fun. Trust me: Grinding
fi berglass in a small, poorly ventilated space
while directly on the equator is a pain. But
the dif erence between cruisers and dream-
ers is that the cruisers do what needs to be
done, no matter how onerous the task.
Next, I gave our storm trysail its annual
inspection, as well as made sure our life
raft and related gear were all set. We not
only carry a hand-operated desalinator
but also an AIS man-overboard device, a
waterproof handheld VHF, and a strobe
that can be hoisted on a box kite (all
powered with solar rechargeable batter-
ies). Excessive? Perhaps. Some would say
I don’t need the Ocean Safety life raft
aft, since I have an upside-down (triple-
lashed) infl atable on the foredeck, as
well as a second Viking raft down below,
but, hey, just because I’m one of the
lowest-cost vessels transiting the Indian
Ocean this year doesn’t mean I can’t be
the best prepared.
Better safe than sorry.
Our genoa was almost 20 years old.
We had restitched it numerous times. So
when I bumped into Phil, an eager young
Kiwi sailmaker in Langkawi, Malaysia, I
ordered a new one.
Then, continuing preparations, I
noticed some excessive movement at the
forward edge of our hard dodger and added
four stainless-steel braces to eliminate it.
Needless to say, I did our mandatory
just-before-a-major-crossing rig inspection
armed with a magnifying glass. I felt every
inch of our stainless-steel rigging wire. (It
is much easier to spot strand cracks with
your hand than with your eye.)
Since heavy weather dramatically
increases the chance of fi re of shore, I
looked at our fi re extinguishers. I also
inspected our propane system from tank
to fl ame.
Darn it. At the last minute, I realized
that the at-rest voltage of my starter bat-
teries wasn’t what it should be. So I lugged
four new batteries aboard to ensure we
could crank up even if our house bank
was somehow fl attened. Just to gild the
lily, I added a seventh solar cell and a new
regulator dedicated solely to the starting
group. Whew!
Yes, all of our regular running lights
were functioning, as well as our low-draw
superbright LED tricolor.
Next up was some TLC for our Perkins
diesel: new primary and secondary fi lters,
impeller, exhaust fl ange, and transmission
fi lter. Plus, of course, all the usual fl uids
were replaced and the air-purifi er fi lter
was inspected. I also checked our engine
maintenance log and discovered it wastime to renew our extended life coolant.
Meanwhile, Carolyn was still at work.
She was sewing up an additional spray
dodger, which we’d custom-fi tted to the
midhatch so we could keep it open longer
in dii cult yet tropical conditions.
“Don’t forget we’ll have to dig out
the winter clothes,” she reminded me.
“Remember last time how chilly we were
in Cape Town?”
Drat! I’d forgotten.
“Do we still have our sea boots?” I
asked. She shook her head negatively.
After so many years on the equator, I’d
spaced out on such cold-weather details.
While I was inspecting the rig, I
replaced our VHF antennas and added
some modern LED spreader lights — oh,
and a loud horn with numerous strobes
that are wired into our burglar (and panic
button) system.
Panic button? Yeah. Alongside my bunk
is a button I can push, connected to a relay
that turns on my siren alarms, strobes,
horns and spreader lights. The idea is to
scare away any unwelcome boarders while
they are still outside on deck, rather than
be awoken by them right next to me, with
machetes in their upraised hands. (Yes, if
anyone steps into our cockpit at night, the
burglar alarm rings, but I can actuate the
panic button if I hear swimmers or feel
another vessel bump us.)Next we renewed the weatherproofi ng
around our cockpit locker and generally
inspected our entire boat for watertight-
ness during a roll. (Batteries, stove and
sole panels locked in place — check!)
Of the seven yachties I know who have
rolled, four of them were severely injured
by loose but heavy UFOs winging around
the cabin. Thus we’re careful with our
storage, and we have storm plugs for all
our dorades.
We re-greased all the winches and
replaced two sheets and one halyard.
Ditto all the control lines and high-tech
blocks on our Monitor windvane.
Actually, there was far more prep work
than all I’ve mentioned here, but space
compels me to close. You get the idea.
After all this work, we tied up to a dock
next to a Malaysian restaurant to await
being hauled out. A dockside landlubber
with his girlfriend pointed to us and said:
“Look at that — retired and lying around
their yacht all day. That’s the life!”
“You betcha,” I replied, lazily grin-
ning back. “We ain’t done nothing since,
like, the 1960s, when we met during the
Summer of Love!”Fatty and Carolyn are currently on passage
toward Ar ica, counting their calluses along
the way. Their latest book is Storm Proofi ng
Your Boat, Gear, and Crew.november/december 2016cruisingworld.comON WATCHGARY M. GOODLANDERFatty’s Fat Flat drogue is an alternative take on the copyright-free design that
his hero Don Jordan came up with; it’s cheaper to make and easier to stow.